A Day At The Beach
by blanchards
Summary: AU: Emma and Neal spend a wonderful day at the beach with their son.


**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.**

**AN: Since I haven't found many (or any for that matter) fics of Emma and Neal raising Henry, I've been meaning to write something. I know it's holidays season but it's Summer where I live and I couldn't help but picture the family enjoying a day at the beach so here it is, all the fluff! I apologize for any mistakes and **_**please**_** review :)**

The sun was coming through the window shining on Emma's already bright hair, waking her up from her peaceful sleep.

She found herself wrapped around her boyfriend's arms and smiled. Today was going to be a great day.

They've been living in Tallahassee for almost four years now. It was almost four years ago when they got a good amount of money from the watches Neal had stolen and the couple got some news that would change their lives.

Having a child wasn't in their plans. At least not so soon.

They were still young and only starting their lives together. It wasn't the best timing and they didn't have any idea on how to raise a kid. But as soon as they heard it's heartbeat at the first doctor's appointment to make sure they were really expecting and everything was okay, they knew they couldn't give that up.

They still had plenty of money from the watches but Neal decided to get a job to make sure they were still able to provide for the family and Emma stayed home with the baby. It was better than having to afford daycare and Emma didn't want to be away from her child not even for a second.

Now Henry was three years old and was the best kid they knew. They couldn't even imagine their lives without their little boy.

Since Tallahassee wasn't so near the beach as they thought, they planned on taking the day to have a little trip and spend the day near the ocean.

Emma shook Neal awake and he opened his eyes and cleared his throat. "Good morning."

He looked down at his girlfriend. Even having just woken up she looked beautiful as ever.

"Come on, we have to get up. Today's gonna be so much fun!" Emma tried to get out of bed but he grabbed her by the waist to give her a good morning kiss.

She kissed him back for a moment but then she pulled away. "I'm serious. We don't have time for that now. I have to wake up Henry."

She managed to get away from his grip and walked to Henry's room while Neal groaned in frustration, but he knew better than to argue with her.

Emma walked into her son's room and found him peaceful sleeping on his small bed. She tried to wake him up by brushing her fingers through his hair.

"Henry. Henry, wake up. Come on, honey."

"No, mommy. Let me sleep."

"Come on, Henry. We're going to the beach today!"

Henry turned around to look at his mother's eyes, rubbing his own eyes while he spoke. "The beach?"

"Yeah! So get up so we can get some breakfast, get ready and hit the road."

"Kay." The kid yawned.

Henry slowly got up from his bed and walked to the kitchen where his father was already cooking their breakfast.

"Good morning, kid!"

"Morning, dad." The kid let out another yawn.

The family ate their breakfast and Neal took Henry to his room to get him ready while Emma prepared a food basket with their lunch.

When everyone was ready to go, the couple safely put Henry in their yellow bug and started the trip.

Henry felt back asleep within a few minutes and Emma and Neal enjoyed each other's company while listening to their favorite playlist.

Some time later they were finally at the beach

The day was warm and not so hot. Not a typical summer day in Florida and the beach wasn't crowded at all.

Emma was in a flower dress with her bikini underneath, Neal was wearing his swim shorts and a shirt and little Henry had a swimming trunk and a t-shirt on. As soon as they got to the sand Emma took off Henry's shirt so he could play however he wanted and wouldn't get sand all over his clothes.

Neal put a towel on the sand with their basket next to it while Emma took Henry's toys from the bag giving the kid a smile, which he returned reaching for the toys and she let the boy play on the sand.

Emma joined Neal on the towel and they watched Henry play. She took her camera from her bag and started taking pictures. Her camera wasn't fancy but she felt the need to buy it when Henry was born so they could register every minute of his childhood.

Her son was having fun splashing sand all over the place. The kid probably had sand even in his hair but neither Emma nor Neal would stop him from having so much fun. They didn't come to the beach very often but when they did they let Henry have as much fun as possible. They had never seen their kid so happy.

Neal took off his shirt and joined his son. They took Henry's little buckets and started building a sand castle. Emma still had her camera and was taking a bunch of pictures of her boys.

"Look, mommy, daddy and I are making a castle!"

"It looks beautiful, kid." She smiled at Neal and took another picture.

"And may I ask you, son, who lives in this castle?" Neal asked his little boy.

"We do, because mommy is a princess and princesses live in a castle. And we live with mommy."

Emma's heart melted when she heard her son calling her a princess. They were living in Tallahassee for some time and they had made great friends, friends who absolutely adored Henry, but Emma and Neal were the only family he ever knew and the kid looked up to them like they were the most important people in the world. And they were, at least in his little world.

Neal noticed the happy tears in Emma's eyes and he smiled at her. He would call her princess as a joke and she would tell him not to call her like that but he knew that deep down she loved it when he did. It made her feel special somehow.

She put her camera down and joined her family. Kissing her son's forehead she helped them build the rest of the castle.

Once it was finished, Henry had a proud smile on his face and Neal took the camera to take a picture of the mother and son. It was _her_ castle, after all.

It was getting warmer and to cool things down, the family decided it was time for a swim.

Emma took off her dress and they put their stuff inside their bag. Henry reached for both of his parents while both of them took each of their son's hands and walked towards the ocean.

Henry had been in the ocean a few times but it still scared him.

The waves weren't big at all but Henry hesitated to walk into it.

Emma and Neal had the same thought as they took Henry's arms and they lifted the boy up each time a small wave crashed at the edge of the sea.

Henry apparently liked the idea and laughed as his parents continued to lift him up.

Neal took Henry in his arms and him and Emma walked into the water. Henry held on to his father scared that the water would get him. Once he realized his parents wouldn't let anything happen to him he relaxed and started splashing the water.

His parents laughed at his excitement and the family played in the water with him for a few minutes.

Coming back to the sand they noticed it was past noon so they took their lunch out of the basket and enjoyed the sandwiches Emma had prepared for them.

After lunch, they let Henry play some more on the sand as they sat down on their towel wrapped in each other's arms.

The sun was bright but the sky was filled with clouds so the sun didn't feel so hot upon them and the weather felt nice.

There was something Neal had been meaning to do for a while now and watching their son play after spending a wonderful morning with his family made him realized that there was no better time to do this but now.

Emma rested her head on his shoulder while she watched their son play. Neal looked down at her as he took the courage to finally speak.

"Marry me."

She looked up at him a bit shocked. "What?!"

"I – I know we're young and we agreed not to get married just because we had Henry but… Emma, I honestly can't imagine my life without you. I can't imagine not waking up next to you every day. Not having the best time with our little family like we had today.

"I don't have a ring right now but I'd really like to make you my wife."

Emma was speechless. She loved Neal more than anything, next to their son, but she wasn't expecting this.

Yes, they agreed not to get married just because they had a child together but that didn't mean that marriage wasn't in their plans.

She kept her eyes on him as a big smiled crossed her lips.

"Of course I'll marry you."

His smiled matched hers as he leaned down to brush his lips against hers. She depended the kiss and put her arms around him.

Henry looked up at his parents as if he knew something big had just happened and the little boy started laughing moving his arms up and down trying to get his parent's attention.

They broke the kiss and Neal got up to pick up Henry. The little boy settled between his parents and let out a big yawn. He usually took a nap after lunch and after waking up early and playing all morning, the kid was really tired.

Emma held her son close to her while he slowly closed his eyes.

Neal put his arms around his family and they stared at the ocean.

"I love you." He whispered in her ears.

"I love you too."


End file.
